The Ride To The Rink - An Honest Conversation About Body Image In Hockey

Sheri Hudspeth [0:08 - 1:51]: This is an important topic. And, you know, part of the reason why we're doing the show is to talk about these topics. So, parents, if you're listening, turn it up right now. If you're 15 years old, you're 16 years old, turn this up, right? Because we want to get into body image and hockey players body image, especially for women, hockey is a game of acceleration, right? You're going to have big quads. You need your big glutes and quads to skate. Skate fast and skate hard. If you're skating at the college level and the pro level, you're on the ice 2 hours a day. You're in the gym maybe one or 2 hours a day, and you're putting some weight on, especially, like, in your bumps. Like, you're going to have a big bump from skating. The men have it, the women have it, but women's hacking players are not a size zero, they're not a size two. And if you look at just society's view of women and body images that you need to be skinny, and I. And you see a lot of girls, not a lot of girls, but, like, I've heard the comments, like, in the gym where they don't want to get too muscly, right? And it's like, if you're going to play at a high level, you need to have some muscles. And if you look at the Team USA athletes and college athletes, their body types, they have bigger shoulders, they got triceps, they have abs, they have glutes, big quads, and they're all sizes. Like, you have players that are 510 six foot, and then you have. Arguably one of the best players right now is Kendall Coyne, and she's five foot two. So, you know, with men's hockey, where they're like, you have to be six foot two, you have to be 200 pounds. They're trying to put weight on. This is not men's hockey. The PWHL doesn't even list their height and weight. So a big myth is yet with body image. We have to just get away from that and have positive self talk about body image. 

Hannah Beckman [1:52 - 3:57]: Yeah, I kind of agree more with Sheri's points. It's tough, right? Like with, with me, you know, I don't. I don't. I'm never hiding. I love working out in the gym, you know, getting stronger, especially with, like, my quads and stuff. That was something that was always an issue for me and always has been, is actually putting on weight. I'm a small, small girl. I'm also five three on a good day. And, you know, no matter how much I work out and how much I. I try to gain muscle, for some reason, my weight doesn't change. Um, but I didn't. Personally, I didn't really let that get to me. Um, if I felt strong and if I felt I needed to get stronger than I did, that. Um, but there is a lot of, I think, you know, conversations that are missed within young girl hockey players. Um, if you want to get to the highest level, you have to kind of just put that all aside and just. Just work so hard in the gym. Um, off ice training is so important and it's so crucial. And, you know, Lee, you mentioned mindset of, you know, playing, and I think the. The biggest thing with, around athletes is obviously mental health, right? And that goes along with our physical health as well. And, you know, it's. It's. No, it's definitely not. It's not like a lie that hockey in general and sports in general plays a huge mental toll on you. It does. It's a. It's a tough thing. It goes with competition. You know, if you don't play well one night, then you're upset for 24 hours because that was me. And a lot of times, it goes into emotion as well. And a huge thing, I think, with girls hockey is that, you know, it's okay that if you're not feeling your best self one day, you know, there's a lot of girls, especially within. Within college hockey, who maybe will look in the mirror and be like, oh, I hate wearing dresses because my shoulders are so large. 

Sheri Hudspeth [3:57 - 3:58]: That's a big one. 

Hannah Beckman [3:58 - 4:00]: Yeah. I mean, for me personally, yeah, people. 

Sheri Hudspeth [4:00 - 4:07]: Make comments too muscly, or you look weird in a dress. Cause you have a spaghetti strap dress on your. Jacked in your arms. So. 

Hannah Beckman [4:08 - 4:12]: Yeah, yeah, that's me. I mean, that's me. Right? Like, I have super broad shoulders. 

Sheri Hudspeth [4:12 - 4:20]: Like, work super hard to get jacked, and then only to hear comments. Aunts at weddings that you're too big, it's so tough. 

Hannah Beckman [4:20 - 5:27]: Or, you know, you get the comments, like, why don't you wear dresses? What? You're a girl. And it's like, okay, for me personally, I don't like to. I like to wear pants. And that's just a personal preference for me because I'm a hockey player, because I'm an athlete. I really feel more comfortable in my pants. And it's not because I don't want to show off my muscular legs. I mean, I'm wearing shorts all the time, too. Um, so it's the same thing. But yeah, it's. You kind of have to go with just the reminder all the time in your head of, I'm an athlete, I am strong, I need to be strong. And I said nutrients is so important for you, for athletes, for us athletes, we have to fuel our bodies so we can compete at the best to our physical ability. And that's something too that I think always I think needs to be talked about more. Especially with youth hockey and parents at home too. If you're really listening to this, like you gotta hone in on making sure your female athlete is eating properly while also training their physical body and their muscles. It goes hand in hand. 

Mike Bonelli [5:27 - 6:11]: So it's super important staying on the topic of body type and mindset for hockey, women or men, boys, girls, is just make sure you're in an age appropriate environment to do those things. I mean, I think if you're a girl on a twelve year old boys team and you're working out the same way, you might have to look at that and see your pediatrician and see a sports nutritionist and a physiologist and just make sure that you're not doing things that you shouldn't be doing with the body type, with the size, with the weight, with the age, with your puberty. Just all those kind of things. Because I think say, oh, twelve year old hockey team, they're all the same. And I'm not saying this just for girls either. 

Hannah Beckman [6:11 - 6:12]: That's everyone. 

Mike Bonelli [6:13 - 7:04]: And say hockey's done a great job of showing those studies that like biologically a kid on a twelve u team might be nine, could be 14, like depending on where that kid is. So just be aware of that. Like I said, I think it's ironic that the body type conversation comes up when the fact that women's hockey is getting more and more and more physical and coaches are looking for bigger and stronger and nastier players. So it's going to be, you know, but then you got, you know, on the boys side too. You don't, you wouldn't expect a goodreau to be out there, you know, laying somebody out at center ice, right? So it's, there's, there's a room, there's a place for all types of players. But just be aware of when you're in that developmental stage and that's really the audience we talk to, right? Is that, is that young developmental stage? Just do your research and make sure you don't lump everyone into the same time frame.